Tahlavin Stormblade
Tahlavin Stormblade. Arrogant, sarcastic, enigmatic and utterly ruthless in battle. Armed with the twin ‘Reaver’ blades, he has fought alongside the Alliance in defense of his kind and his nation for nearly a decade. Using his long centuries of training as a Watcher, the mysterious jailors and marshals of the kaldorei, Tahlavin fights at the order of the High Priestess and the Sisterhood of Elune to purge the corruption and strife that threatens to undo all that was born from the past hundred centuries of peace. ---- History Born shortly after the War of the Shifting Sands, nearly a millennium ago, Tahlavin was raised in the capital city of Nighthaven, which lay within the sheltered moonglade at the base of Mount Hyjal. As he showed only a very limited aptitude for the druidic arts, he was instead trained in a very different discipline – that of the Watchers. The relatively small organization was not considered part of the Sentinels, nor the Sisterhood, and was tasked with the capture, imprisonment, and guarding of any dangerous criminals who dared violate kaldorei law. By the time the orcs crossed the Great Sea to Kalimdor, Tahlavin was an experienced Warden. And when the Eredar Lord, Archimonde, sent his demonic and undead army against Hyjal, Tahlavin was among those who stood against it. But though he slew many of the risen corpses, he was finally struck down by a powerful demon and left for dead. Found and cared for by the Sisterhood following the great victory over the Burning Legion, it was only after he had recovered that he learned of the Betrayer’s escape, and the disappearance of Maiev Shadowsong and the death of most of his fellow Watchers. In the wake of the organization’s near destruction, and the tremendous upheaval amongst the kaldorei as they joined with the Grand Alliance, Tahlavin was given the task of leaving his homeland and fighting alongside the Alliance armies. First against their ancient enemy, the Silithid; then against the Burning Legion on another world, and finally against the Unholy Scourge and their master, the Lich King. Throughout Silithus, Outland, and Northrend, he has fought. And with the death of Arthas at the hands of Tirion Fordring, his latest task was complete. And so he was given a new assignment. To aid in confronting the Alliance’s final enemy: The Horde. ---- Combat As a Watcher, Tahlavin’s fighting style is based upon the principles of advantage and surprise. Fully aware that a ‘fair fight’ leaves him at a marked disadvantage against better armed and armoured combatants, he instead seeks to always strike from the cover of shadow and to strike a lethal blow as quickly as possible. Because of this, he feels no hestitation before striking at an injured or otherwise crippled opponent, and is even swifter to flee from a battle he feels he cannot win. With an array of smokebombs, potions, and flash-powder at his command - and given his race’s natural elusiveness – he has often been deployed to ‘pick off’ the weak and undefended support at the rear of an enemy line, silencing them one by one before vanishing back into the shadows. ---- Other Races Tahlavin has what he considers to be an enlightened opinion of the other, younger, races. In practice, it means that he sees most of them as little more than children, typically in danger of hurting themselves and in need of both guidance and patience. This tends to come across as somewhat condescending. After befriending a draenei Vindicator named Riaan, however, Tahlavin has considered draenei to be a somewhat equal race to the kaldorei in terms of wisdom and maturity. As with many of his kind, the orcs are a race he looks upon as a group of blood-thirsty savages who should be gotten rid of or contained for the safety of everyone around them. His opinion of the trolls is little better, and has only gotten worse with each time he has seen their kind murder or enslave their own gods for power. The Forsaken, of course, are simply an unnatural abomination, but he sees no malice in destroying them. They are, after all, merely restless corpses who were raised against their will; returning them to the grave and the peace of death is a mercy and a kindness. The sin’dorei and tauren, however, are races he is less sure about. The blood elves are distant kin; practically cousins, even if they refuse to confront their dependence on arcane magick. With their traitor king, Kael’thas, revealed for what he was, and their Sunwell now blessed with the Light, he has high hopes that they will one day come to their senses. The tauren, naturally, are friends of the kaldorei people, and welcome in Nighthaven. While he has no idea why they are even part of the Horde, he will frequently go out of his way to avoid killing a tauren in combat. Category:Night Elf Category:Alliance Rogue Category:Alliance